Layzie Bone

Mainstream music produced by macho African-American males has always presented listeners with an interesting dichotomy. On one end of the spectrum is gangsta rap, on the other end is "girl be mine" slow jamming. You would expect the purveyors of both sounds to be at stark odds; instead there exists a peculiar mutual admiration society, in which polar opposites often guest on one another's tracks. But it's the rare artist who has dared fuse these divergent sounds, and few have done it as effectively as Layzie Bone of Cleveland's Bone Thugs 'n Harmony. Pepper in Layzie's rapidity of rhyme, and you've got a chance to catch one of the more unique talents in R&B at a relatively intimate venue that had better have good ventilation on the night in question. With Tay Smallz, Mo Thugs Family, Richie Rich, Bing-X. MIKE SEELY